Strong Winds
by immaturebuttjoke
Summary: [Challenge Fic, see inside for more details. Warnings: 10th Walker, OCs.] Smoke and bad tidings from an unknown source billow into the Northern Mountains on a dark cloud, polluting snow and soil while suffocating wildlife. The race of beings that reside there must discontinue their self-imposed seclusion, and one is sent to fix the problem at its source.
1. Prologue: Takabi Flies South

Prologue:

Takabi Flies South

The last of Takabi's hard-earned roasted mountain goat was finally gone, though the dried berries she needed were still plentiful. She thought that she must have looked like a pathetic, sullen animal at present; she huddled in a small mountainside cave, with her limbs drawn close and her clothes dirtied and damp from snow. Outside, the blizzard continued to rage, making it impossible to travel. She sighed, watching the steam of her breath to distract herself, then checked her bag yet again, counting off every single item. Rope, a compass, salt, cleaning fluid, cooking utensils, novel-scrolls, cloth, clippers and many more items were all accounted for, neatly arranged and ready for use. The most important cargo she had were gold- embroidered silk bags of valuable grains and seeds, which would be peace offerings in her dealings with the barbarians she was set to encounter, providing that they were capable of being reasoned with. Takabi tucked these expensive luxuries at the bottom of her bag, in a small box that would prevent damage.

Checking her cargo over and over didn't help in the least, but it provided some sort of entertainment. Takabi needed all the familiarity she could get, considering she was headed towards completely uncharted and unfamiliar territory. The Great Explorer himself dubbed it the 'Savage South'; a land filled with barbarians, monsters, and strange, terrible forces.

Her situation was like this because her promotion was near, which would have enabled her to pay off her family's debt and allow them all to live their lives out of labor. Takabi's superiors were, of course, not willing to grant her family such grace. As a final mission, they had given her a map, vague scrolls of information on language and physiology on the races there, and a few cheap supplies. They had threatened her with banishment if she did not succeed. Of course, she knew that they were banishing her indirectly anyway, as this was very obviously suicide mission. She was safe from the dishonor of a direct banishment, owing to the laws against banishing military personnel; instead, they opted with tasking her with the impossible. It was almost laughable, in a cruel way.

It was four days into her journey, and she was already missing home. Her family desperately needed financial assistance, her siblings and mother needed emotional support, and the house needed tending. Her heart ached for the hardships they were probably facing at that very moment, until hard resolve replaced sorrow as she stared into the flames of her dying campfire and clenched her jaw. A task was a task. If she could make it through training as a female, she just may have a chance. Her family was counting on her.

Despite the thoughts whirling about in her head, she noticed the silence that had filled the cave. Cautiously optimistic, Takabi removed the snow she had piled in front of the cave's entrance, and observed the skies. Apparently, the weather was as fickle as it was deadly. Oh, how she missed the predictable and docile weather of her home, with steady periods of snow and strong but steady winds.

Such thoughts disappeared as she gathered her possessions, eying the clear, deliciously stable winds that were presented to her by the remote location that was previously her tormentor. Instinct and anticipation surged through the Tenklak, as the familiar instinctive love of flying took over. Eagerly, she snapped open her wings, gently pushing them against the breezes and letting her tail feathers fan and flex. Her talons gripped at the icy rock she was standing. As a final forethought, Takabi remembered to rub at her shoulders and clip her travel-bag to her belt with shaking fingers. Then practicality was thrown to the wind, as Takabi dropped herself of the edge of the cliff, rose on a thermal, and soared south.

_A/N:_

_So, welcome to my first fanfiction made public, a challengefic, no less! Basically, this is a part of a satanic contract deal I have with another budding writer friend of mine. We looked at each other's old stories we had written as young teens during our weaboo/mary sue phases, then chose one for the other to revamp, trying to repair it while keeping as much of the original premise as possible._

_My old fanfiction? One completely terrible, eye rotting Lord of the Rings fanfiction, in which I created a race of angel people, and a 10th walker, who was a tragic yet invincible Mary Sue angel person. Queue appropriate reactions of violent nausea and explosive diarrhea._

_My friend was cruel in her choice (don't worry, I got her back by choosing her old Naruto fanfiction for her), but here I am, having revamped the entire tedious saga into something barely tolerable. The question as to whether or not it is tolerable to a suitable degree is something that I'll find out as I write._

_So, the plot? Basically the same, unfortunately, so the 10th walker premise stands, with a few things to fill in the many plot holes that were present. The character and the 'angel' race also remain, albeit dramatically altered (thankfully). **There will be no pairings, besides canon and slightly possible but unlikely OC/OC.** I was allowed at least the luxury of avoiding the romance hellhole. While I was able to avoid these pitfalls, the future story will suffer from made up gibberish from my race's language. I'm no linguist, so there's an 88% chance of the words sounding like utter garbage; such as names, places, the race's name itself. For that and the many other transgressions that will undoubtedly plague this fanfiction, I apologize. A challenge is a challenge however, and I (probably) won't back down for a while yet._

_You'll find more on my little race of bird people as you read, although I am working on an informative document on them to make things easier, and this will be linked on my profile as soon as I get it done. Also, I promise that the author's notes to come won't be nearly as long as this monster._

_Without further ado, let's see how this goes!_


	2. Chapter 1: The Dark Cloud

The Dark Cloud

While Takabi didn't like the connotations of her observations in the least, she could not have denied the interest she felt in the changing landscape below her. The mountains she traveled over quickly transformed into an icy coast, which provided her sustenance in the form of many large seafowl and fat fish, straight from the sea. As soon as she noticed how scarce the ice-berries – small, tart little red berries that grew in abundance in ice and snow - were becoming, she made sure to pick a good number. She harvested so many, in fact, that they weighed her down slightly. It was lucky for the Tenklaki woman that fish was easy to digest and expel; the digestion of food unaided by any available berries would be inconvenient, to say the least, whilst travelling.

The further South she traveled, the more the landscape morphed before her eyes. On her 4th day of travel, the icy coast gave way to equally icy mountains, although with the passing kilometers, the ice was lessening, and the mountains became largely dark cracks dancing across a white landscape, excluding their snowy tops. The snow was becoming scarcer as well, for pines and other large evergreen trees started to multiply, shading the white with deep hues of green. By this time, the mountain goats had disappeared, and Takabi's talons instead sunk into the flesh of small, fleet-footed deer -their speed and other factors such as the trees made them hard to catch, though not prohibitively difficult.

While possessing nowhere near as much substance and fat as mountain goats, the deer were relatively easy to skin, and their meat was easy to prepare. Birds were also becoming more plentiful, and while she had never seen some of them, she had no qualms about targeting the fattest, most juicy looking fowl and treating herself to a good roast. While she was cautious and kept to the air as much as possible, the notion of the 'Savage South' quickly turned to more of an exotic banquet, as it was clear many of the local animals had never needed to avoid a swift airborne predator such as herself.

With the abundance of alien life came a slight change in the air. Every time she landed to sleep, she noticed the slight thickness of the air, which worried her little, although it was not drastic. However, as she left the arid mountains behind her and soared above rolling lands of green grass, Takabi noticed how warm and thick the air was, which made everything feel heavy to her.

As the winds started to change direction, she altered her course to the Southeast, in order to reach the 'Lorieni' that was described in the Great Explorer's old scrolls. Takabi knew little of the furred barbarians who walked the lands, although, she found herself slightly intrigued by what appeared to be different sorts of barbarian cultures recorded, with the least savage of these breeds residing at her destination. These were described as the 'Tall Ones', who were slender, long-furred and had pointed features. They were practitioners of magic, and were thought to be the most advanced of the barbarians. The next in the ladder where 'Broad Ones', more violent yet shorter, who possessed more fur and seemed to be the most common type of barbarian. Then, the 'Short Ones', who were the furriest and, according to the writings, the least intelligent and welcoming. There were more, yet she had decided not to read further, already feeling apprehensive about dealing with these odd, furred, crawling beings.

By the seventh day, despite the lack of truly rough weather, the strange southern climate was beginning to take a toll on her body. The wind did nothing to soothe the heat that she felt from the sun, and the lands below provided no relief; she had only been able to find one small brook of fresh water to cool her down and fill her water bottle, and the flustered avian humanoid made the decision to travel by night, if possible. However, this meant attempting to land in the dark, which was risky if she could not avoid any potential hazards. However, fate was not with her on this.

It had started with startlingly loud, cawing noises - a thousand screeches in the night. The noise struck a strange sense of impending doom on the startled Takabi, and before she had time to react, what appeared to be a large, fast-moving cloud flew overhead on the dark horizon. On slightly closer inspection, it appeared to be a flock of carrion birds. But what were they doing flying at night? She attempted to steer clear of them, all the while remaining on course. When this didn't seem to help her avoid them, she risked dropping down below them in order to let them pass overhead – an open invitation to attack if she was facing something capable of harming her, although she did not think these creatures capable of great damage to her person. This was a grave mistake. She had little time to react before the volume of the screeching increased, and the flock of creatures beset her from above, clawing and tearing at her.

Takabi let out a noise of surprise, and then instinctively dived away from the things, tucking her wings around her and dropping like a stone. This gave her momentary relief from their attacks, and she increased her speed, trying to flee as quickly as possible. A screeching to her left heralded yet another group of birds, which herded her even further off course, and she cursed under her breath as she tried in vain to right herself. It took her several moments to realize that these things were intelligent, and had managed to surround her from all directions in a matter of minutes by force of sheer numbers, regardless of how she dropped and weaved.

Another attack caused her to drop disjointedly in a blind panic; she was able to buffet a few with her wings and slice with her talons, but was unable to effectively fend off her attackers as she tumbled awkwardly through the air. They ripped at her skin and feathers, drawing blood and making her scream in pain, mind going blank as she was completely swarmed. She tried diving once more, and managed to break free of the flock, her body tucked in as compactly as possible. The air rushed past her, stinging the myriad of cuts she had sustained from the assault of the swarm.

By this time, Takabi was completely, woefully off course, and she had no idea where she was headed. All she wanted at that moment was to get away from her surprise attackers. She was flying low, and she realised too late that there were no more high altitude winds to help speed her escape, and she was beset once more. Frantic zigzagging and thrashing helped her situation no more than diving had, and she knew that she was in terrible danger of hitting a tree or other object. Yet she was also in danger of being literally ripped to pieces in the air, most likely leaving nothing but an odd looking skeleton behind in a remote area.

This lovely thought was the last that ran through her head, besides a string of colourful expletives, as she briefly saw a large pine tree and realised, again too late, that she was heading straight for it. Takabi collided against the hard wood with a sound thwack as she mercifully missed sharp protruding sticks of wood, before tumbling down several rows of branches and losing consciousness in an awkward heap.

A few minutes later, Takabi drifted back towards consciousness, at first wondering if she were dead. Raising her eyes to the stars overhead, she observed the dark cloud that attacked her veering off to another location, seemingly abandoning her. Struggling in a stunned stupor to right herself, the winged being turned over, realising her mistake too late when she lost balance and tumbled down the rest of the tree, hitting the ground hard and adding to her already extensive list of injuries. In that particular spot, she drifted in and out of semi-consciousness for an unknown amount of time; unable to move and at the mercy of the elements.

If it were not for her rescuers, she would undoubtedly have died there, near the side of the mountain known by the locals as 'Weathertop'.

_A/N:_

_Sorry for the wait! I was being bad and reading other people's fanfiction instead of working on my own. (I'm loving it so far, Ms. Lailath! I'm hooked!) _

_Why didn't she get eaten by wolves during those days bleeding out on the ground? I dunno. Also, the Crebain leaving Takabi for dead without doing the smart thing and eating her while they could is what originally happened in the fic, so I suppose I kept it in for authenticity's sake, and for the fact that I can't fill every plot hole in this miserable narrative._

_Yes, Takabi's kind eat very quickly and pass it through their bodies faster than others might, to give them enough energy for flight and detract from the Tenklaki race's Sueness. There is no biological basis for this, I just know that if birds eat and shit a lot, then so should Takabi._

_I apologize immensely for the lack of canon-y goodness besides said flock of evil crows, and I promise that the next chapter will involve the dashing ranger himself, as well as hobbits! I suppose with the mention of Weathertop you may be able to guess which part of the story our unfortunate OC is thrusting herself into._

_So far, so good; I haven't gouged out my own eyes yet!_


	3. Chapter 2: Introductions

Introductions

When Takabi awoke, she was lying awkwardly on her back, and at first, and she thought that she might have still been broken and bruised on the ground. However, as she gathered her senses, she felt a myriad of strange sensations, namely a feeling of warmth and heaviness, with an odd soft sensation on her back while her wings lay spread awkwardly on either side of her. The crackling of a merry fire could be heard, as well as murmuring voices. Eyes still shut, she frowned in confusion at her uncomfortable placement, and tried getting up and shifting to a more agreeable position. The murmuring voices turned to that of exclamation, and she felt a stinging pain in her left wing, yelping in surprise.

A hand pushed her shoulder, and her eyes shot open, reflexes kicking in as she swatted it away. Hovering over her was a furred barbarian, frowning and speaking incomprehensibly in his own tongue. His eyes were frighteningly foreign – rounded and coloured like that of the grey mountain rocks, and he had a heavy, protruding brow bone. Takabi met his gaze with what she intended to be cool disdain, but was more of a confused and defensive look, laced with fear of the larger, unfamiliar being. The barbarian must have noticed this hesitation, as he withdrew his hand and gave her space, however he insisted on talking with too great a speed for the somewhat dazed Takabi to effectively understand. Trying to remember the language and failing, she furrowed her brows.

The barbarian repeated what appeared to be a question, and she waved at him in a dismissive gesture, instead asking, "_Where is my bag_?"

It was the grey-eyed barbarian's turn to look confused at what was probably unfamiliar speech, shaking his head murmuring "She does not speak the common tongue." It was a phrase in which she recognised one familiar word after all the meaningless babble he had spouted.

Takabi lifted her head weakly, finding her bag on the right and trying in vain to reach it, locking gazes with a smaller barbarian that was regarding her with wide eyes. "_Give me my bag, you cretin. I won't be able to understand a word without those scrolls,_" she uttered, the irritancy in her voice overridden by how absolutely tired she felt. The group had erupted into murmurs once more – she had no hope of following their conversation.

"Is it… Is she reaching for her weapons?"

"I am not certain. However, the daggers in her possession are behind me, and she can do little harm in her current state." The barbarian had apparently decided to assist her, as he pushed the green-embroidered bag in reach.

Hurriedly, Takabi undid the buttons on her bag, digging about to find that her possessions were out of order, as if they had been rifled through. _Oh, of course they have been_. For all Takabi knew, those dirty animals had stolen anything they thought was of value. She swallowed her irritation, though, in favor of actually being able to communicate. Her hand hit the familiar wooden handle of a scroll, and she retrieved it, unrolling the small object with difficulty, so that she might see how to greet these creatures.

Meanwhile, Samwise did not answer Strider's observation, although the hobbit took the liberty of pointedly glancing at the unfamiliar being's fearsome looking talons, which grew out of where her feet should have been. 'Her current state' may nonetheless still be extremely deadly, judging by those razor sharp knives. While she had been in the throes of unconsciousness, she had driven away some attempts at healing her, though she mainly just swatted Strider's hands in a way similar to when she awoke, startling both the poor ranger trying to assist her as well as every hobbit watching in curiosity. In all, he found the alien newcomer extremely unnerving, from her hybrid anatomy to her unruly temperament.

They had found her unconscious, covered in minute cuts and sporting a broken… wing on her left side. At first, they did not know what to do with the creature, until her face contorted in pain and she muttered under her breath. She looked and sounded more or less non-threatening in that state; her skin was an unhealthy pale colour, when it was apparent that she should have been browner, and regardless of her odd, fearsome appearance, chivalry won over in the end, and they took it upon themselves to help her – whatever she was. They were extremely wary, but found the idea of leaving her immoral, especially when she half-resembled a defenseless woman. With claws. There were claws.

He glanced at his Master Frodo, who slowly leaned forward, studying the winged being in the same way that the other two hobbits were – in morbid fascination. Immediately, Sam felt a surge of protectiveness – he did not want his friend to be harmed by the potentially dangerous creature.

"Strider, what do you suppose she's doing? Reading?" Frodo finally asked.

The ranger made to answer the question, but was interrupted as he opened his mouth.

"He-lo,"

A stunned silence befell the group, though the being that lay before them seemed to pay it no mind as she furrowed her brows in concentration, trying to grasp the pronunciation of foreign words.

"I am… Takabi. I am from a, uh, the North, a tenklaki. I seek the place of Lo- Lorieni? To counsel with your leader." She then looked from the scroll to her audience, inclining her brows, as if expecting an answer to the mess of words she had thrown at them.

Strider was the first to speak, as he was the only one who had managed to understand the heavily accented speech, and who was still level-headed enough to recognize introductions when they were given. "I am known as Strider," he said, slowly and politely, gesturing to himself. "Forgive me, but I have never met one of your origins before. You call yourself the tenklak?"

Takabi frowned in contemplation as she processed the words, and then unrolled the paper further, before finding the words she needed to answer. "Yes. We – we, from the north, and need to see leader. Your smoke is in our home."

The disjointed manner of her speech did not hide the slight accusatory air to her last statement, and Strider frowned, as he suspected what she might have been referring to.

"You have been bothered by smoke?" Strider asked, curious to see if his suspicions were correct.

"…Yes. Very bad, makes snow grey," She let go of the scroll with her right hand, and then mimed a slit to the throat, which was a universal gesture. "Hurts us. I am to talk to Emperor in Lorieni, ask about smoke."

"Do you mean Lórien, Takabi? You mean to ask the elves about the smoke that is hurting your home?"

"Yes. I am…" She paused for a moment, turning the scroll and scanning the page once more before continuing. "I am a soldier. I was sent to stop this. To ask. Then…" She unrolled the scroll further still, searching for a word (whoever translated the scroll) never thought she would have needed for introductions. "…birds. Many birds attacked, a great many birds, and hurt me. Now I am here."

"You have caught my companions and I in a terribly complicated situation at the moment, my lady," Strider said, barely detectible weariness in his voice. "You are healing fast, but you may slow us, and we are on an important quest. Though, if what you say is true, then I am sure that the source of the smoke you speak of is a part of our quest, as well. The elves may have the answers you are looking for, and if you should wish to pursue them, we will lead you there. However, these are dark times, and if we suspect foul play from you, we will deal with you swiftly. When you arrive, there may be confusion suspicion, and fear. Do you understand?"

Not really, yet she understood the implications - there was some sort of threat apparent. Yet Takabi held the barbarian's stare meaningfully, nodding as she said a phrase that undoubtedly held the lives of her people in the balance.

"Take me to the elves, Strider."

_A/N:_

_Heheheh, he will deal with 'fowl' play 'swiftly'. Geddit? 'Cause birds… _

_Sorry for the slight delay in the story, too! Uni has been a bit hard on me lately._

_Anyway, DEAD LORD this thing is a pacing and dialogue nightmare. I promise I'll get better with that as I practice, since that's one giant thing I need to work on. Anyone know a willing beta reader? I'd love one at the moment, just for quality's sake, to help me take this goddamned story to Mordor._

_Other than that, whee, canon characters! And canon events! I'm going to do this mostly from Takabi's point of view, purely so that I don't end up retelling the entire damn story, because that'd be pretty boring. _

_Also, I'm very proud of the fact that, by sheer luck, she met the authority figure she was looking for, and then proceeded to call him a cretin. _


	4. Chapter 3: By The Fire

By the Fire

When she had turned on her stomach to lie more comfortably, the tenklaki woman had almost cried out in dismay when she caught sight of her left wing. It was bent at an unnatural angle, and her feathers were matted with dried blood. Someone, one of the barbarians, perhaps, had applied a splint and bandage to it, and though the sight of her mangled wing made her feel ill, she did not believe that any lasting damage had been done. Takabi had tried to convey her gratitude to the largest of the barbarians, 'Strider', but he simply nodded in acknowledgement with a polite smile. Trying to preserve her dignity after her outburst, she then inspected her wounds more closely. Peering through the blood soaked into her feathers, she could see that the wounds themselves had been cleaned, as had the bandages wrapped around the larger cuts. The wrap and splint on her wing was clearly improvised, and Takabi doubted that these beings had any experience in treating wing injuries. It was better than nothing, however, and overall she was satisfied with her treatment.

The remaining time by the fire was awkward, to say the least. The smaller barbarians stayed clear of Takabi, which was fine by her, as she had no interest in socialising with them. She preferred to study them from afar. Were these the supposed 'Short Ones' mentioned in the scrolls? She imagined so. She did not see any furred faces, however, despite it apparently being their key defining feature. They did have fur on their feet, though. Perhaps there had been an error in the translation of the text.

As it grew darker, the barbarians busied themselves with food, when they were not busy staring at her. While Strider had talked slowly and deliberately towards her, much of the conversation made between the barbarians was too garbled and fast for her keep a track of, especially because of the inconsistent pronunciation that they seemed to use (the worst of which came from the roundest Short One, who used so many contractions that it made Takabi's head spin). As food started to be prepared, the winged being's own stomach gurgled loudly, much to her embarrassment. She reached for her own bag, but as she drew a few biscuits out she glanced at barbarians own meager rations - Takabi was surprised at the miniscule amount of food they had managed to produce.

She munched on her own crumbly sweets, trying to figure out what their conversation was about, and knew concern when she heard it. Takabi, the empathetic being that she was, would not have cared in the least for the starving barbarians, but for the fact that they were her only way of navigating out of this dismal place, and going to a slightly more civilized one. That, and the solemn, hungry expression on the youngest looking Small One's face…

"I have," Takabi began, drawing the curious attention of all barbarians present as she struggled for words. Brilliant. "I have some- some… _Oh damn it all, just take the stupid food._" She hissed the last part in her own language, resignedly shaking the pouch of sweets upside down and promptly cramming two of them at once into her mouth, chewing grumpily. When no one moved, she pointed from the startled barbarians (though that Strider fellow seemed vaguely amused, if anything) to the sweets, using a universal gesture of 'well, dig in, you dolts'.

The youngest was the first to try it, and he seemed to like the strong sweet flavour of the grainy treats. His enthusiastic response prompted others to quickly try a sample, and soon, a quarter of the tidbits had gone. Takabi in turn took an odd piece of food from a barbarian. She examined it – it was an odd, fluffy, crunchy piece of food made out of what appeared to be a type of grain – then consumed it. It was bland, but filling, and she took another piece when it was offered.

Soon, the uncertain atmosphere had dissipated somewhat, food proving itself to be a universal language.

Their bellies filled somewhat, they settled by the fire, and the night grew darker. Takabi had grown hot and sweaty under the furs of the sleeping sack she had been given, and she shrugged off the covers to get cooler. As if the night had read her mind, the temperature decreased to a more pleasant climate. Curiously, the smaller barbarians did not share her sentiments, huddling closer to their campfire, wrapped like small entrées on a tightly packed platter. 'Strider' seemed less bothered by the weather, though.

After a while, Strider seemed to tell the others stories, and though Takabi could not understand most of the words, the barbarian's deep, rhythmic method of telling such tales was oddly soothing, and she found herself listening, entranced, regardless of her lack of comprehension. When chanting began, with unfamiliar yet melodious words that were smoothly recounted and pleasant to the ear, the drowsy tenklak could not hold her eyelids up any longer, and quickly fell into an oddly peaceful sleep before _The Tale of Tinúviel_ had even finished.

"She has fallen asleep," Merry noted, when the hobbits had decided to stretch. The feathered being remained unmoving on her stomach, breathing softly. She looked almost peaceful, with her wounds dressed and her expression serene.

"Then she bears no ill will," Strider said, more to himself than to the hobbits, staring into the fire thoughtfully. "No evil creature would be soothed by the stories of the Old Ones and the songs of the elves."

Takabi awoke with a start a short time later (though it felt much, much longer) when she heard an exclamation. Groggily, she straightened, intending to stretch her cramped wings, before grunting in pain as she was given a painful reminder of her previous adventures. As the cloud of sleepiness left her mind, a sudden inexplicable uneasiness replaced it, as moonlight flooded the clearing. Instinctively, she reached for where her daggers would be on her hip, before realizing that the wary barbarians had probably removed them. She could not understand the orders shouted by Strider, but she followed the example of the smaller barbarians and sat around the fire, facing outward, though she had to stay some distance away from it, in order to keep her wings and tail feathers out of the way of the flames.

There they sat in tense silence, and while Takabi longed to ask what was going on, terror and unease sealed her lips. Instead, every feather on her body stood on end, and her olive skin crawled as she listened for some indication of their pursuers, because she knew _somehow_ that _something_ sinister was out there in the darkness. Confused, frantic thoughts clouded her mind, as she realised how helpless she was in her current state, not to mention that she had no idea who-or what was out there in the darkness.

After what felt like an eternity, a sharp cry of exclamation drew her attention to growing shadows, the sight of which struck an instinctive terror into her heart. The surrounding air seemed chilly, as though she were back at home in the polar atmosphere of the mountains. Then, when she could not feel anymore fear, they approached.

The tightly knit group they had formed was broken as soon as each individual's terror overtook them, and Takabi wasted no time in jumping away from where the shadows advanced. From the sidelines, she saw the shadows, and the barbarians, quaking in terror – Strider was the only barbarian still in command of his senses, and was attempting to organise the remainder into some kind of defensible order. The shadows seemed only interested in the barbarians, largely ignoring the terrified tenklak, who did not notice that one of the Short Ones had been missing. The shadows rushed past her and beset themselves on the barbarians, seemingly converging on a vacant space, until she heard foreign words spoken from a faraway place.

A great shout grated Takabi's ears, and she saw Strider attempting to drive each shadow off, a blazing piece of wood in each of his hands. The shadows screeched, a sound which made her flinch, until sense overcame her terror enough to follow the barbarian's example. Running to the fire and stooping, she picked up two flaming branches, dual wielding them as if they were her daggers, and turned to the nearest shadow. It recoiled, as the first shadow had from Strider, before recovering itself and lunging at her. She clumsily dodged out of the way, inhibited by her large bird feet and injuries. Strider then came to her rescue, managing to drive off that shadow too. Before Takabi could comprehend what had happened, the shadows had gone, vanished suddenly, the terror that had permeated the air jarringly replaced with an empty, thick feeling of shock.

Takabi heard a cry behind her, as the roundest of the Short Ones found one of his companions face down on the cool grass. The barbarians rushed towards him, and she hung back, unsure of what to do, and unsure of whether she cared enough for the barbarian to check. However, they paid her no mind as they lay their fallen friend by the fire, and Strider ran off into the night. They had covered their friend in all of their blankets, and he slept silently, as if dead, his companions hovering nearby. They conversed in worried voices that almost made Takabi herself concerned. She attributed her conflicting feelings to the fact that they resembled children. Ugly, furry, wingless children that looked far too mature for their size, but children nonetheless.

The night plodded on, and Takabi could not sleep as she did before the chaos, so instead she offered her blanket to the round Short One, as he had given his own to his companion and looked rather chilled. He looked surprised, at first, before smiling and asking her something. She frowned, and dug into her scroll again, asking him to repeat it several times before she finally could hold a conversation with him.

"Won't. You. Be. Cold?" He asked for the millionth time, as she finally got the gist of his gibberish.

"No," She replied. "Home is cold – snow, and wind. Here is warm. You need furs, I give."

He took it after some convincing (a lot of broken convincing, which was extremely annoying for the both of them), and then introduced himself as 'Sam', a relatively easy name for Takabi to pronounce. 'Pippin,' 'Merry' and 'Frodo', on the other hand, were names that did not come easily, but were learned after practice. After the introductions, however, conversation was more difficult, and they finally lapsed into an uncomfortable silence while they waited for Strider to return.

A/N:

SO. That happened. Sorry if it sucked balls, but at least we're trudging through this plot.

Forgive Takabi's attitude, arrogance is a big part of her personality. She's in a new, alien place (if you haven't noticed by the way she goes on about it every three freaking seconds) so she's on the defensive. Also, she's just kind of a bitch to combat her original purity sue tendencies, but let me know if she crosses into the jerk sue territory too much, please? I'd be grateful.

Exam week for uni's coming up soon, so I might be a bit slack during the next few weeks as I try to not fail my very expensive subjects. But, if you even bothered with reading this, then thank you very much!


	5. Chapter 4: Travel

Travel

The next events where a blur to Takabi. Frodo had awoken a while later, and Strider had returned, treated Frodo, consoled Sam, and left once more. Takabi tended her own wounds too, which were healing steadily, though she longed to be able to fly, so that she could continue her journey uninhibited. She loathed to be stuck on the ground with the barbarians, as they were already slowing her progress down significantly. But what else could she do? Takabi was helpless without them - she could not navigate this foreign land when confined to the ground, and couldn't hope to defend herself against odd creatures in such a state.

Strider returned with the sun, bringing with him a dark, jagged blade, which he talked excitedly to the Short Ones about. Takabi hung back, as she was useless at treating wounds and had no idea why the blade was important – in fact, the thing gave her an odd, uneasy feeling, and repulsed her. As Frodo's condition grew worse, Strider busied himself with making some sort of medicinal herb that she didn't care much for, until it gave off a beautifully soothing, refreshing smell. She had a feeling that if she brought some of that leaf back, it would quickly become a luxury item, and made a mental note of that.

Already, she could feel her thoughts sharpen because of the refreshing scent, and she methodically planned her next steps. Takabi would need to study the barbarian language, in order to communicate more efficiently; there was no better time to do it than when she was focused. While she read, the tenklaki woman watched the barbarians converse out of the corner of her eye. The wounded Short One did not appear to be worsening in condition, though he did look pale and weak. But then, who is to know what is considered healthy for these creatures? To her, they were all a shade too pale. Meanwhile, the others discussed their next move in whispers too rushed to follow.

After what seemed like ages, she saw movement – mainly the barbarians milling about, packing their belongings. Takabi herself followed suit, grabbing her own bag. Annoyingly enough, her daggers were still not returned to her, presumably because they were still somewhat suspicious of her. She didn't press the issue, since she was merely a visitor in a strange land, and it would be best not to argue when she was outnumbered. In fact, she decided to attempt to earn more trust by offering to carry a few of the barbarian's belongings, which earned her hesitant but grateful smiles.

With their injured companion riding on an unidentifiable beast of burden, the journey started, as they set off to 'Rivendell', where the 'elves' resided. It was relatively easy for Takabi to scale the edges of the hill, but as she saw the span of grasslands and forests on the horizon, her stomach dropped as she realised that the whole journey would have to be made on foot.

Throughout their trip, they had one or two close encounters with those things that had attacked them, yet there were no battles to be had, thankfully. The journey was grim – both she and the rest of the group were weary and silent, and the scenery was grey and dismal. Takabi was definitely not used to traveling long distances by foot. Her endurance was reasonably honed, but her legs were not, and they ached and weighed her down with every step. By the end of the third day of travel, Takabi's feet started to bleed, as the scales on her toes became tender and painful. Strider had noticed her tending to the uncomfortable sores, and advised her to bathe them, before binding them in clean strips of cloth.

To distract herself from regular aches and podiatric injuries, Takabi took almost every rest break as a chance to memorize the words in her language scrolls, though avoiding actually engaging with the barbarians. The rest of most of the trip was like this, and it all blurred in Takabi's mind, with the occasional 'oh yes a river in the distance', 'oh yes a bridge', 'oh yes a pretty green jewel; I do not know why this is significant but I will pretend to be interested, anyway', 'oh ruins', and finally, 'because of all that excitement and intrigue you lead me to believe that those large statues were alive'. Even as the landscape changed frequently, it really was only a different shade of unfamiliar and threatening to the tenklaki soldier.

Her wing healed steadily, and so did most of her cuts. However, the sores on her feet were going bad, secreting puss and smelling foul. Strider provided her with salve from those weeds, but they only helped the worst of it. Takabi realised that her life was in real danger of being lost because of infection.

Finally, an odd song (about 'trolls' and bones?) and more walked miles later, they encountered some interesting noises in the distance, and Takabi followed their lead when they hid in nearby bushes. An unfamiliar barbarian mounted on a beast larger than but not dissimilar to their own rode past, its long, yellow fur on its head actually looking rather majestic as it blew in the wind.

When Strider sprang up to greet him, Takabi realised that he was, indeed, an ally, and quickly dug through her bag. She was eager to follow along with any conversation that may take place, so that she may not be left behind in a swirl of unfamiliar events. The language scroll was withdrawn…

"_Ai na vedui Dúnadan! Mae Govannen_!"

…only to be roughly shoved back into its bag by an angry hand.

When they were promptly called from hiding, and Takabi peered at the newcomer. He was tall, fair and oddly graceful for a creature stuck on the ground; this could only mean that he was a Tall One – an elf.

"This is Glorfindel, who dwells in the house of Elrond," said Strider, and Takabi was impressed and relieved when she heard formalities that she understood.

"Hail, and well met at last!" The Tall One said cheerfully, full attention on Frodo.

An odd mixture of apprehension and eagerness pooled in Takabi's stomach. She had not met such a being, and she had read of these Southerners wielding magic. How would such a terrible, beautiful being react to her?

"I was sent from Rivendell to look for you. We feared that you may have encountered danger upon the road-" The elf-lord's voice trailed off, and Takabi knew that she was finally noticed.

Quickly, she remembered her duty as a diplomat of the Emperor. She withdrew one of the gift bags and bowed respectfully, holding the silk package in offering. "Hello, I am Takabi. I am please to meet you." Inwardly, she congratulated herself on her improvement with complete sentences, not moving from her position. After all, it was rude to look into the eyes of nobility.

There was a confused, uncomfortable silence, until Strider spoke up. "We happened upon her at Weathertop, wounded after she was attacked by Crebain. Takabi claims to be an envoy from her people, the…"

"Tenklaki," Takabi offered helpfully, still facing the ground in a sign of respect.

"…Yes. Her people are being affected by the dark activities of The East. She seems to be no servant of the enemy. I decided that it would be wise to bring her alone, unarmed, to meet with those who may be able to aid her."

Takabi finally straightened, still feeling dwarfed by this stranger's presence. More terrifying still, he did not accept the gift – why did she think she would be meeting someone civilized in the first place? He was still regarding her with suspicious eyes, and she grew uncomfortable with the mixture of fear and admiration he inspired. Truly, these 'elves' harnessed some form of magic.

Regardless, Takabi stood strong. "I only wish to serve my Emperor," she stated, struggling against giving in to the temptation of hiding behind Strider.

"So be it," Said the elf, finally. "You must prove your case in Rivendell."

After a moment of silence, Frodo spoke up. "Has Gandalf reached Rivendell?"

This lead the conversation to a new tangent – one that Takabi could not and didn't care to follow. The conversations were far too long and mentioned words, places and names that she was nowhere near familiar with. After all this hardship, she had not died yet, and she prayed that they would reach the leader of these 'elves' as soon as possible.

Apparently, it was time to move on, with this 'Glorfindel' leading them, and he was even worse than Strider. They stopped little, and, laughably, it was lucky that Takabi was running out of food, since it appeared that the barbarians relieved themselves not nearly enough as she had to, and she wanted to avoid the elf as much as possible. She could feel his gaze ever on her, waiting for her to make one wrong move.

Even the small barbarians, who were used to walking, were exhausted, and could not walk as fast as those with larger strides. Takabi found herself trailing behind them, not having the heart to push past, instead encouraging them in her own odd way, with her silent presence. When they did rest, Strider had checked her wing to make sure it was healing properly, and Takabi noticed that most of the cuts on her skin were long healed. Her feet were still angry and raw, aching dully.

The next day was quite possibly when Takabi reached the peak of exasperation and exhaustion, as she realised how unbelievably long the damn journey was. At this rate, her wing would heal before the journey ended. She awoke irritated, and hoped for something, anything, to signal that she would finally reach her destination.

A loud cry of warning startled her out of her brooding, and a Short One dragged her down sloping terrain. With no choice but to follow, the bandages on one of her feet ripped, and raw flesh dragged on rocky ground, and it took all of her resolve to not yelp like a child as the creatures rode down the road. Through a haze of pain, Takabi didn't even notice that a particular Small One was gone, and only focused on her breathing.

Takabi looked back and saw a red trail of blood. It was only a foot wound, right? A concerned hand tugged on her arm and grey eyes locked with hers, asking questions that she couldn't understand, that she realised that her awareness was fading. She frowned, trying to formulate words, until her world started to grow dark.

She swore in her native language, and then succumbed to sweet unconsciousness.

There was a buzz of activity in Rivendell as Elrond and his healers frantically tended to the wounded hobbit that had arrived. However, there was also another arrival that ignited more confusion amongst the elves – the curious being that appeared almost dead from exhaustion and infection. No one could place where exactly they were from, or their intentions. That is, until a figure slipped out of Rivendell's library.

When the being's injuries were finally bandaged and the healers left her to rest, a pair of bright, curious eyes observed her. The elf studied the new being that was brought in, regarding her eagerly. What they said was indeed true, there were talons, wings, and various other curiosities. Clearly female, though she did not possess the chest of a woman or elleth's. She also had broader shoulders, though they were soft as with one of the female persuasion. Long, fine brown feathers stood in the stead of hair, and her olive complexion and facial features bore a striking resemblance to an Easterling.

While many were starting to believe that she might be a spy for the enemy, he was not so sure. Her species was obviously far too exotic to come from somewhere as close as Mordor, or they would have heard about them by now. If she was created there, she was not nearly as twisted enough, in his opinion. Besides, he had read of such winged beings somewhere, though he could not quite place where.

A healer walked into the room, and then stopped, blinking. She hadn't seen this face outside of the library save for when he appeared to gather more food from the kitchen, or sitting at the Hall of Fire. "_…__Beridhren_?"

The elven librarian answered to his name but briefly, nodding his head in acknowledgement, though still scanning the database of information in his mind for answers. "_Yes… I do believe I have the answer to this riddle,"_ He declared, before elegantly withdrawing back in the direction of the library, leaving the surprised healer standing in the room.

Beridhren had some research to do.

A/N:

_Ooooh ~_

_what shall we do with this boring chapter_

_what shall we do with this boring chapter_

_what shall we do with this boring chapter_

_in this god damn fanfic?_

I have finally found the downside to writing in book-verse: you end up being as boring as a physics lecture. Also, I'm late. Really late. I'd say I have an excuse, but I don't. Uni exams happened, and then the holidays did, and I couldn't be bothered to go through the stress of publishing such a piece of shit part of my writing.

However, at least we've gotten somewhere! The journey's finished, Takabi is at Rivendell, and I'm relieved that no one is paying that much attention to this fanfic anyway. I'll try to be on schedule next time, but once again: no promises.

Still, I guess I'd appreciate a review, if you could spare the time and the energy to give me an ego boost or constructive criticism. I can't take a writing course at uni, but I'd love to improve my writing. So, yeah. Thanks!


	6. Chapter 5: Rivendell

Rivendell

Takabi awoke to an odd feeling of peace. Dully, she wondered if she was dead, and if she had finally come to rest with the spirits as a breath of wind. But no, she felt far too solid, too heavy to be a free spirit of the air. Yes, she was lying on her side, on a soft surface. She slowly opened her eyes, taking in unfamiliar, white furniture of foreign design. To the left, there was an odd table full of unfamiliar plants. To the right, a figure clothed in light orange, sitting forward and watching her intently – wait.

She jumped, sitting up on her hip. Another figure, one in white, rushed past, calling for someone. Takabi cautiously regarded the elf sitting at her bedside, not knowing how to react.

"Hello, my curious friend," Her observer greeted her slowly, in a smooth, bright voice that didn't quite match his eerily ecstatic expression. "What might you be doing so far south?"

Takabi said nothing, opening her mouth but not able to find words to answer. She guessed that she was in the company of elves, and was too intimidated to do anything but stare.

"There is no need to be frightened. I hear you are an envoy," He said, still ever so slow and methodical. "Your King has sent you?"

"Ah, Beridhren. I presume you're making the newcomer welcome?" An old sounding voice spoke, and the elf quickly straightened and lost his curious tone of voice.

"Of course, Mithrandir," He replied, withdrawing as if catching himself from a stupor.

Takabi's interest was piqued as she saw this odd, grey-clad figure, wearing a large, rather ridiculous hat. Was this the barbarian leader? Still bedridden, she could not bow as she wished, though she ducked her head courteously as she could. It was finally time to use the lines she had been taught.

"Hello. I am Takabi. I am please to meet you," She intoned, and almost praised the winds when she actually got a reply.

He nodded in response, leaning on his staff a little. "I am known by many names, but you may call me Gandalf the Grey. Tell me, Takabi – what brings you to Rivendell."

"I am soldier, sent from my Emperor, of the Tenklaki to seek – uh, to…" She inwardly cursed the language barrier. "…To ask about the smoke coming from the South-East."

There was a pause, until the grey furred one spoke quietly, deeply in thought. "You are not with The Enemy? The dark forces of Mordor?"

"My people, we one nation. We are not with… 'force' outside of our mountains," Takabi replied slowly, mind racing to remember the words she had memorized in the language scroll. This is what she had been preparing for during the arduous journey on the ground.

"The smoke is ruin our snow, and our air. It is hurting our water, crops, animals, people. I come not as enemy. There are royal gifts in my possession, offerings for you," She continued desperately struggling to keep her proprietary tone as she started thinking of her home. The winged being dared to be bold, and looked up at the leader in front of her. "There has been much suffering. We smoke to stop. Please."

She met the grey one's eyes as he judged her, deep in thought. He was looking for any signs of deception, but he did not find any.

"I am afraid it will not that simple," Said Gandalf, slowly. "There is much occurring here that your people are not aware of. Forces beyond your knowledge, and beyond your ability to deal with."

Takabi was out of complete sentences, as she truthfully did not know any more words for different occasions. She frowned, as she had expected them to merely cease and desist, and then she could go home, write a scroll on her experiences with the barbarians, and then forget everything.

"I do not…" The winged being began in confusion. "You will not stop?"

"We are not the ones responsible for the poison plaguing your people," he replied. "The dark forces of Mordor grow in power; it is Mount Doom that sends the smoke you speak of."

Takabi slumped, throwing manners to the wind and muttering her favourite curse word under her breath. "_After all this way_…" She said, in her own language. "_After all that damned time._"

There was a warm, comforting hand on her shoulder, and she jumped at the contact. She looked back up into kind grey eyes. "You are clearly no servant of the enemy," He said, in a warm tone that calmed Takabi slightly, despite herself. "The words you speak may be few and broken, but they are honest. If you wish, there is still hope, if you want this suffering to end."

Takabi sat for a moment, rubbing at her temples. She was the only representative of the emperor, in a state of undress (only a pullover, and so thin!), in an unfamiliar bed, with two male barbarians. In another situation, she would have shrunk into the floor in shame and despair. Yet, the offer of hope and assistance made her raise her head. "What… What must I do?"

"First you must rest, and eat," The grey one replied. "When you are well, you must meet with Lord Elrond, who is currently tending to Frodo."

Takabi's eyes widened, despite herself, as she recognised the name. "Frodo?" Why did she care? Perhaps she had been travelling with the soft-spoken being for too long. "He is… Alright?"

"He is recovering, but stable. He needs plenty of rest."

She sunk back into the pillows, pausing to find the right words. "I am hungry?" The phrase was uttered as a question, yet the meaning was understood.

Immediately, an elven woman – the same one from before, shuffled in with a tray of unfamiliar, yet welcome food.

"I will leave you to your meal," Gandalf said, and Takabi bowed her head to him as he left, before feeling her stomach grumble at the smell of the food. How long was it since she last ate? That question drew another more important one – how long had she been asleep?

* * *

Rivendell was… Odd, Takabi decided. It was warm, like the rest of these lands, but somehow it managed to abstain from being as unpleasant. Instead, it almost felt like the feeling one got when sitting near a warm, cheerful fire. She definitely was not used to it, and the distant music and singing she heard did not help at all.

The she-elf that tended Takabi introduced herself as Sairahiniel, a name and a half that took Takabi around half an hour to pronounce. Sairahiniel explained that she was a healer, but after that, she spoke little, and seemed quite weary of the tenklak. However, it seemed as though the she-elf was at war with herself – spending one moment avoiding her alien patient like the plague, and another fussing over her as a mother would with a dirtied child.

It was still sometimes awkward. The healer, after catching Takabi's gaze, demanded that she examined her patient's eyes. The winged being was startled, though complied and Sairahiniel had staggered back from her she had realised that the clear film on the bird-woman's face was _another eyelid_, clear and blinking horizontally.

Likewise, Takabi had realised that Sairahiniel did _not_ possess it. How did these creatures protect their eyes? Both females had a hard time making eye contact after that, finding what they saw too alien to be comfortable with.

However, necessity did dictate that conversation was inevitable. Attempts from either sides were tentative, yet when Takabi could not find her clothes or possessions, the situation drove her to ask after them.

"Where are…" The winged being struggled to find the words to ask for her uniform, it was imperative that she wear it, since she was representing the emperor. She gestured to her own person, hoping to convey what she was trying to explain.

"Your clothes were ruined on your journey," Sairahiniel replied.

"I need them," Takabi persisted. "They are… They are of my emperor." She swore in her own language when she, yet again, could not quite explain why her uniform was so important.

The she-elf paused for a second. "I suppose I could mend them," She mused, and Takabi couldn't thank her enough for that gesture of kindness. "It will take a short while, as I must continue to tend to my duties, but I should finish it in two days."

Takabi pondered for a second, before speaking. "My bag – it had gifts. For leader."

"Your belongings? I will make sure to tell someone," Sairahiniel replied. "You will receive them before your audience, so you may present any important items."

Throughout the day, Sairahiniel not only busied herself with tending Takabi, but she had also chased off the other curious elf from before on multiple occasions, as he snuck in a few times to ask her questions or observe her. Every time he swiftly, stealthily snuck in, the healing elf-lady would catch him red handed, and chase him out, chastising him until he meekly fled. Takabi tried her best to remain stoic, but she wasn't made of stone, and she found herself chuckling at these exchanges.

As ethereal and graceful as they were, it seemed as though they could still have their humorous moments, Takabi supposed. Even Sairahiniel seemed to relax when she heard her patient's mirth, and they began to speak more often. Perhaps it was Takabi's loneliness and need for a fellow female friend, but she started to find an odd form of friendship grow between the two, though it was mostly pleasant geniality.

Another day passed, and Takabi was very surprised to find the wounds in her feet had largely healed, and with the help of padded gauzes, she had no trouble walking on the soft stone floors. Unfortunately, her wing was still bound in bandages, and ached slightly, though not as extreme and seemed to be well on its way to mending. Her newfound acquaintance gave Takabi one last check-over, and then leads her to a place where she could bathe.

Bathing in a barbarian bathroom was not as unhygienic as Takabi might have predicted, though she refused to enter the hot water initially offered. She preferred a pleasant amount of lukewarm water, though Sairahiniel fretted that the water would not be enough to remove an acceptable amount of dirt. She was proven wrong when she saw the winged being meticulously clean herself of every ounce of dirt. Every part of her body was meticulously lathered with soap, scrubbed and rinsed, from head feathers to talons. Satisfied, the she-elf left to get suitable clothes for Takabi, so that she may walk for a while, and maybe even see Lord Elrond if he was unoccupied.

Takabi was surprised to find the barbarian bathing experience surprisingly pleasant, as the soaps offered graced her sense of smell in a way that it took a great about of self-control to finally leave the bath. That was when the slippery struggle began, it took quite a while for her head, wing and tail feathers to dry, and when Sairahiniel returned to clothe Takabi, they had sat on the edge of the bath for a while, and had to use four towels to dry her off.

The clothes that Takabi were presented with were… certainly interesting. Some of its fabric was translucent, made out of an unfamiliar material that the tenklak had never seen before. It was long, somewhat like her healer's, though less elaborate and smaller. Sairahiniel seemed to see the most obvious problem straight away – there was no way her wings would fit in that slim, flowing garment. The elvish healer carefully cut two long slits into the fabric, which solved that problem.

However, the dress sad oddly on her back, and they had to tie a ribbon right under her wings for modesty's sake. Much to Takabi's displeasure, her makeshift seamstress refused to allow a hole to let her tail feathers through, fearing that it may cause more damage and embarrassing exposure.

Takabi saw herself in a mirror, and saw that she looked as awkward as she felt in the odd, flowing dress. On top of the obvious problem of the foreign fashion, it was pitifully loose at the chest. Takabi had to ask, were all these Southern women with child, or where their busts just always enlarged? After some awkward conversation with Sairahiniel, apparently it was the latter. Odd. Tenklaki women usually only had chests like that when they were pregnant and nursing.

As they stood in the room, an official-looking elf beckoned to them at the doorway. He nodded at Sairahiniel, and she jumped, before turning to Takabi. The winged being knew what that meant, all right.

"It is time," Sairahiniel said, before beckoning for her to follow.

Takabi took a deep breath, following her guide. After every single setback, it was finally time to see the Elf-Lord himself.

* * *

A/N:

See? I did it. I admit, it's a bit lacking, but I might as well continue practicing, as opposed to letting my writing habits rot. (Also, I finally found the linebreak button-thing. Applaud me.) Sorry that it's mainly filler, but Takabi woke up after only a day and a night, and Elrond was off saving Frodo's life during that time, and probably would have no time for her. Still, things are looking up! She'll get to see the head honcho himself, next chapter!

Also, I forgot to mention the whole nictitating membrane thing, but I thought it'd be an interesting touch to a race of bird people. Besides, I imagine the tenklaki would have problems with dry eyes if they flew around with their eyes getting torn at by the wind.

Anyway, thanks so much for the follows and review! It means a lot, considering that I wasn't really expecting much of an audience with this fic. You guys are making this all worthwhile.

I hope to pull off the next chapter and the madness that is politics, but, as you've probably noticed, dialogue is definitely a weak point of mine. Gandalf, I am so, so, sorry for writing you as a plot-convenient answering machine and lie detector. I do find writing fanfiction weird – I kind of feel like a V8 supercar enthusiast that has never actually driven such an expensive car, much less race one. I know all about the characters, but I'm still finding it hard to accurately and emotively portray them in an interesting way.

So writing the meeting with Elrond? That's going to be hard as shit. **If anyone has any suggestions, especially in regards to how Elrond would handle this situation, PM me or something and I'd gladly give you my firstborn**. (Maybe. Probably not. No. But the sentiment is still there.)

Anyways, thanks for reading! You must have balls/ovaries of steel to sit through this, and I commend you. Flex them metallic genitalia, you resilient human warrior.


	7. Chapter 6: Kings and Kitchens

Kings and Kitchens

Throughout her childhood, Takabi had seen many grand depictions of the Old Kings in her homeland. In the newer ages, kings were left out altogether, and after the unification; statues were reserved for that of the Emperor. Regardless, many of the colossal old statues continued to be reverently maintained and cleaned. These grand stone figures possessed many grand, powerful weapons to symbolize protection of their people. However, Takabi noticed a particular feature, once she had grown and had been exposed to the cruelties and scandals of the world of nobles. In jarring contrast to their great displays of power and control, those powerful kings had smooth faces were always set in an impossibly kind, serene expression, raising one of their hands in blessing to any onlookers. Takabi had dismissed the fanciful notion, as she did not believe that the stonehearted, sturdy leaders required to keep a society from falling possessed such a demeanor.

With that in mind, it was obvious to predict the tenklaki soldier's surprise when she had encountered the embodiment of these statues, and it had turned out to be an Elvish Lord from the south. They had gathered in a meeting room of sorts, though it was more of a pavilion, with pearl-white stone floors and decorative tapestries. The smooth, symmetrical foreign intricacies of this style stirred up the tenklak's instinctual love of order in aesthetics, and calmed her in an odd way.

As Takabi finished her repeated introduction speech there was a silence in the room she stood in. She had reverently placed the offerings – extremely valuable gold trimmed silken bags of precious seeds – lay in front of the elf lord. They were the only ones present save for a few of the elf-lord's subordinates and a handful of guards, as the meeting was called in haste. Surprise showed on the elf-attendant's features when they saw the contents of the bags, and showed their leader, who appeared curious, more than anything.

After a while, Lord Elrond asked a question in a smooth voice. "Your people have been secluded in the north for a significant number of centuries. I take it that people are not aware of the growing threat of Mordor?"

Takabi met his impossible ethereal gaze, as she had noticed that eye contact had no negative connotations of disrespect with these people. It also helped that he could see the sincerity in her eyes. She still refrained from blinking her wind-lids, as she had noticed that it disturbed Sairahiniel when she did so, and as diplomat, Takabi wanted things to go smoothly.

"No," she replied earnestly. "We are stay in The North. No talking with others for long time. Until now."

Elrond sat for a few moments, his ageless face looking somewhat thoughtful, before he spoke once more. "I do recall members of your kind visiting these lands for a brief period of time - a great many centuries ago. They had introduced themselves as explorers. Has the language of your people changed substantially?"

"You-You talk of Gatabu? The Explorer? That great many years, yes," She answered, mind spinning. How did he know that? "We not know that you remember him. He only see few villages, then go back."

Inwardly, she was shocked, and she tried to keep her feathers from rising in response to her unease. Takabi didn't think that a barbarian civilization would last so long to remember such an event, not to mention be intelligent enough to catalogue events and histories. But if that was true, then-

Elrond gave her an affirmative gesture, smiling politely. "I do acknowledge that it was an extremely brief encounter, and did not make an impression on the histories of Middle Earth. It is fortunate that your explorers found the elves, as our lifespans are endless, and our memories run deep. _As your people recorded and remembered the common tongue of the south, we remembered your language in turn_," He concluded, in perfectly fluent, albeit formal form of the Tenklaki language.

Takabi's eyes widened so much that they resembled a barbarian's. A mixture of emotions managed to well up inside of her – surprise, amazement, happiness at the familiarity, and even some admiration to replace her fear. Hearing the Tenklaki tongue coming from an elf was still surreal to her, though it was evident that he was speaking in an older dialect. She felt as though she was talking to an old legal record, instead of the illiterate, magic wielding beings she had read of. Being largely at a loss for words, she merely bowed lowly in turn.

"Ah," Was her intelligent and eloquent response to this revelation, before she forced herself to stammer a complete sentence. _"You… You speak eloquently, your Lordship. I am thankful, for easy communication will surely ease negotiations._" Takabi said, and then noted that those who were in the room were looking on with relatively curious or confused expressions.

"Your request for negotiations are welcomed_,_" The Elf-Lord said slowly, with a note of finality in his voice that made him sound like he was making an announcement. Takabi supposed that he would have to answer for the benefit of everyone in the room. "There is much to discuss, as there are grave forces at work, and it is imperative that your people are made aware of the danger they pose. A council will be called, after all those that are invited have settled, and recovered from their journeys. As a representative of your people, you are also invited to attend."

"Ah. Thank you," Takabi said, bowing lowly, her voice conveying the strong gratitude that her broken sentences could not. "_Thank you very much_."

* * *

Even after the Elf-Lord was forced to hurriedly call off their meeting in order to check on Frodo, Takabi felt surprisingly stable and calm. It had been on the way to the kitchens, after Sairahiniel invited Takabi to eat, that the realisation had hit her.

She had done it. Takabi – firstborn daughter of a disgraced family and a mere female in her emperor's army – had completed the journey to the south. She had braved the bandit infested, blizzard afflicted mountains past her homeland; survived encounters with both the savage and the magical; and had been welcomed to the halls of the ageless, alien elves that dwelled in the inhospitable landscape. When others considered the task a thinly veiled banishment/death sentence, Takabi had managed to pull through.

Needless to say, after all of this, Takabi thought that a celebratory smorgasbord might be due. The fact that her task was not quite yet complete was irrelevant in the moment.

It was only mid-afternoon, so Sairahiniel lead Takabi the kitchens instead of the dining hall. There was a small dining area around there, largely unoccupied except for a few souls and cooks tending to their duties. Takabi couldn't help but perk up when she saw two of the Short Ones from before, the younger ones, by the looks of it. Like Strider, they looked far more civilized now, after being preened and washed to a surprisingly good standard for barbarians.

"Hello," she said politely, bowing her head in respect and wondering if she should approach. Takabi hadn't spoken to them too much during the journey, and she wondered if they were on amiable terms. Her doubts were expelled, however, when they smiled and waved her over to them.

"You are well?" Takabi asked, though she couldn't help but eye the food they were eating.

The youngest – Pippip? Piplup? – said something, though it was muffled by an unidentified food.

The other, Merry (ha, she remembered that one) not-so-covertly nudged his companion. "We're in front of a lady, Pip."

"Ah, is alright," Takabi said, not wanting to show ill manners by starting an argument. She was unsure of what to do next, and glanced back at Sairahiniel, who was leaving to collect food. The she-elf waved at her charge to stay there, and that answered that nonverbal question. Takabi looked awkwardly at the wooden chair near the table, and turned it around to the side so that she might sit comfortably while considering her wings and tail. This action drew curious glances, but no objections, so Takabi inferred that she was not being overly impolite.

It was then that the ever dutiful Sairahiniel returned, offering Takabi a platter of food filled with different dishes. As dignified as she tried to be, Takabi couldn't help but pick through the offering set on the table, having a discerning eye for anything that would appeal to her tastes. In true tenklaki style, she chose every dish containing fruit, meat, or excessive amounts of sweets, immediately bringing them in front of her. Back in her room, Takabi did not want to appear rude or demanding by asking of more frequent meals from Sairahiniel, and her appetite was roaring for sustenance.

When she looked up over her mound of food, she found the two watching in slight surprise.

"You have a good appetite, there," 'Pip' remarked (damn it all, why was his name so hard to remember?).

Takabi couldn't help but smile, nodding. "The journey… There was no enough food," She said, trying to keep amiable despite the frustration of not knowing the language as well as she would have liked. "I not know how Strider…"

"Managed?" offered Merry helpfully, a scene that reminded her of her meeting with Glorfindel.

Takabi nodded in affirmation.

"We did notice, you almost had the same appetite as us," the younger mused. "What happened to the saying 'eats like a bird'?"

Takabi had the manners to swallow the drumstick she was devouring before shrugging her shoulders and wings dismissively. Her attention was more on her newfound free access to food than the conversation, and she had to glance over to the two Short Ones to see how the foreign cutlery was used. Despite those troubles, she had to admit that the meat was exquisitely prepared. Savory, unfamiliar flavors graced her taste buds, and it was a real effort to remain polite when she hadn't eaten a smorgasbord like this since she travelled along the coast.

The fruit was largely unfamiliar, though the taste of it was not altogether unpleasant. After one incident that had the two short ones almost jumping out of their seats, saying: 'No, don't eat it like that, Miss, you'll choke!', she settled for holding up each item, asking what it was, and how exactly she should eat it. For example, she found that she should not eat the peels of 'oranges', and it would be detrimental to her health if she stuffed it in her mouth whole. Apple cores were also not edible, and neither were the brown twigs that held grapes.

Smooth communication proved slightly difficult. Sometimes, the two Short Ones talked a little too fast for Takabi to follow, or used contractions and slang that she was unfamiliar with. Also, the tenklak still had trouble stringing together cohesive sentences, and conveying particular meanings. Regardless, they found themselves interacting quite amiably, despite the language barrier they experienced. She had eaten everything she had an interest in, and moved onto the deserts, having the two notice that she had left a few particular dishes untouched.

"You're… You're not going to touch those mushrooms, then?" Pippin (she had finally learned his name) asked.

"No, sorry," Takabi shook her head politely. "I am not… I do not like."

The two's exclamation of 'how can you not like mushrooms?' was cut off when Takabi slid the platter towards them, already clumsily digging into some berry-flavored bun of some kind, and a deposit of whipped cream with another hand.

The offering of mushrooms officially solidified their friendship, and as the two fully relaxed around her. Other cooks that were milling about gazed at the seen with approval on their ageless faces. The aura of suspicion surrounding the winged stranger had dropped somewhat.

Takabi even answered questions about topics that interested the small beings, (yes, she could fly; no, her wing wasn't quite healed yet) and extended her uninjured wing fully so that the small beings could marvel at the large limb.

As the food craze in Takabi's head lessened and her stomach filled, Takabi remembered a question that was nagging at her mind, despite the fact that she had sworn she didn't care, the jumbled words still left her lips. "Sam is… well?"

The two's expressions (how did they finish that dish in such a short time?) sobered somewhat. "He's with Mister Frodo. Hasn't left his side since we got here," Merry answered.

"They is – are well, now?" she asked, putting the last empty plate back down.

"Lord Elrond's still tending to Mr. Frodo, but we have heard that he's recovering. He has the best healers in Middle Earth looking after him, so don't you worry."

Takabi visibly relaxed, despite herself. "That is… well." Catching herself, she somberly picked at a platter of unidentified sweets, trying to cover up her show of emotion and improve her mood with more sugar. Everything was well.

She repeated that phrase through her dead as a mantra, continuing throughout the afternoon, through the evening, and even as she lay on her stomach on her feather-soft bed. Tomorrow would be when she'd allow herself to think of the future, and the rest of the daunting task ahead of her.

* * *

Surprisingly, I really hate to end it here, for now. I've been doing by best to get this chapter up, since I actually have reviewers (yay!), but uni's really starting to pick up. I did manage to try really, reeaaally hard on the Elrond scene, and I pulled that off ok. The grammar might need a bit of reviewing later on, but my part time beta is also occupied with her studies, so apologies for any mistakes! (The aforementioned beta doesn't know much about the LOTR book-verse, but she has a good eye for grammar mistakes and typos, and is wonderful with structure and the like.)

I do admit, I'm getting pretty into this story, now. I'm looking forward to gradually revealing more and more about the tenklaki people, especially culture and customs. Well, sort of, since I've decided to stick close to my ancestry/speciality, which is ancient Asia-centric. But yes, there's wind-lids and talons and lots more fun terms that are a pain to come up with, considering that I can't exactly say 'nictitating membrane' and stuff like that, but it's still an adventure. I've also got a few plans for Beridhren, since I've actually got a pretty good idea of what caused him to be so… unique.

Also, Tenklaki language is a pain, since I am no linguist, though I have a principle that might help you imagine it. Their words contain lots of sharp, clicking, easily enunciated sounds, easy to hear over wind and snow. Hence the huge presence of K's in their words. The sentence structure is inflexible and rigid, so learning a divers, fluid language like common would be hard to this order-orientated race. I'll cut myself off before I go and ramble too much, but I thought I might include this bit of information.

Anyway, thanks for reading, you marvelous folks!


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